Simple yet elegant, this remarkable bowl was first created when the Roman world was at its height. Though that mighty empire has vanished, the delicate beauty of this vessel remains intact. A poet once described glass as "congealed of air, condensed of sunbeam motes, molded of the light of the open plain, or pealed from a white pearl." He must have been thinking of a vessel like this one, which has taken on an opalescent shimmer with the passage of time. We can imagine a Roman citizen enjoying a breakfast of figs or berries from such a bowl, pausing as we do to admire its loveliness. - (GF.0318)